The Wrong Guys

Audric

Human (ex-)Paladin

Description:

Audric is a tall and big man, standing at about 6 feet. His gray eyes are bright, and often sparkle with amusement. His features are open and honest, hinting at a good-natured man. He has black hair, straight and cut short-ish, with a couple of rebel locks on his forehead. He is clad in armor and has a longsword at his side and a backpack on his shoulder.

Bio:

The day Pelia, Audric’s mother, discovered she was pregnant again, a serious discussion was held in the household. His family couldn’t afford to raise another child – their only income was from Audric’s father, Laer, who worked as an assistant for a tailor, and there were two older sisters to consider. The only solution seemed, at the time, to commit the child to Aldaran: the temple would provide a small sum for raising the kid for the first years of his life, and, at the right age, the boy would enter the temple and begin training as a champion of good. He would still be permitted of visiting his family from time to time, but his education would be entirely decided by the proper authorities.

That was exactly what happened – for the first six years of his life Audric was raised by his family – his fondest memories of that time are teaming with his youngest sister, Naara, only a year older than him, against their older sibling, who fancied herself a proper little lady already, being a full five years older than her sister.

Those carefree years come to an ending when Audric entered the temple. Then the studying began, and the teaching of the faith that was supposed to be the children’s guidance for the years to come. The first period was the tougher: Audric chafed under the restrictions that were placed on him – he was disrespectful, made irreverent questions, and in general demonstrated himself ill-suited to the life of a paladin. But he wasn’t a stupid boy: he soon learned that there was more gain in keeping his head down, do as the rest of the children were doing, and make his teachers happy… and if sometimes happened that he slipped outside past curfew, and none was the wiser, what harm could there be?

It was in one of those escapades that Audric met the man who would then become his mentor – or rather was caught by him. Audric was twelve at the time, and Kalan was one of the paladins at the temple. When asked what was he doing outside at that hour of the night, he thought quickly and then answered that he wanted to be outside to be closer to the gods. The boy fully expected a formal punishment, or at the very least a harsh reprimand, instead Kalan just laughed, gave him a sweet roll that he kept in his pockets (the gods only know why) and send him back to bed. But from that day on he took a special interest in his progress, and sometimes helped him with his studies: without even knowing how, Audric had found a guide and a friend.
With Kalan’s help, Audric made good progress in the path that would bring him to paladinhood – he liked his training and his studies, and didn’t question the doctrine that he was imparted: being raised among those belief since he was of such a young age sorted its effect. However, a bit of a restless streak hadn’t been completely driven out from him. When he was fourteen, in fact, he became infatuated with a girl his age.

Her name was Raeann, she wasn’t very beautiful, but had a nice laugh and the prettiest eyes Audric had ever seen. At that age, all the boys made big talk of wooing the girls (even if, at the temple, such activities were prohibited). Audric didn’t brag about how he was going to conquer the….heart of the girl he liked, but one early morning her father, who was a farmer, found them both in one of his fields, with very little on in term of clothing. There followed a big scandal at the temple, which was going to end with Audric’s ousting…if Kalan hadn’t intervened, putting in a good word once again – after all, a young man being naked with a girl was nothing unheard of… Audric’s mistake was only getting caught. At the end, the scandal was hushed, the girl was sent to some parents in another town, and Kalan sat down with Audric and gave him an ultimatum: he had to decide, then and there, if he wanted to commit to the path of paladinhood. If he decided to, no more escapades were permitted; he would dedicate himself heart and soul to his responsabilities. If he didn’t feel up to it , he was free to go, but he had to decide.

Audric can’t tell why he decided to stay – maybe he was scared to lose the friends he had, or to delude Kalan, or maybe it was just that the temple’s life was almost all he had known since he was more than a toddler, but he stayed, and when the day came, he proffered the vows and became a paladin.

One of his first assignments was a disaster. He was with a patrol, investigating the reports of unnatural magic in the area, when he saw the person people were saying was responsible: a skinny lad, who run away as soon as he saw the paladins. Audric was young, and hotheaded, and chased him without thinking of calling the others, but when he managed to corner him, he looked in his eyes and saw just a frightened boy. They stood still for a second, looking at each other, both with their hands half-raised – the paladin to smite, the lad probably to cast some sort of defensive spell, before Audric lowered his weapon and told the lad to run away, which he promptly did. The paladins returned to the temple empty-handed, and as of this day, Audric never told anyone the truth about that mission.

A couple of years have passed, and Audric has raised a bit in the ranks. Not too much, as the most shining careers are made by the zealots, and he is far from one, but he is content with what he has. He is currently on a solo assignment, investigating reports of strange happenings in the sewers of the nearby city…..and that’s where the story begins.

Family

Pelia and Laer, his parents, are both still alive and reasonably well. Laer quit being an assistant long ago, and relieved the tailor’s shop when his master become too old. His wife now lends him a hand in the business.
Pelia is a small lady, and though her hair has begun to become white, she still looks reasonably young. Laer, on the other hand, is a giant of a man – he is the one whom Audric inherited his size from, and his eyes, too – he has his same gray eyes.
His youngest sister, Naara, (a pretty, lithe girl with blue eyes and an upturned nose) was the black sheep of the family. She always was a bit of a tomboy, and seemed immature for her age: Audric, even being a year younger, was often the wiser of the two. The last time he saw her, six years ago, on one of his visits, he remembers her talking about the elves. She seemed fascinated by them. He didn’t put much thought in it at the time (Naara was always going off on some weird tangent), but she must have shared her opinions with someone else, too, because when she disappeared, just a couple of months later, the prompt rumor that originated was that she run off to find the elves.
Audric isn’t very close to his oldest sister, Adria (a somewhat matronly woman, whose eyes are also blue, but less pretty than Naara). She married some time ago, with a decent, reliable merchant from outside town, and moved with him. She sometimes writes: Audric knows he has become an uncle of a couple of twins, but has never seen them. However, he is happy that his sister seems to be happy.

OTHERCONTACTS IN THEORDER

If it’s true he has few close friends, people he doesn’t care about, however, are plenty. Take Jarett, for instance. He has Audric’s age, was an obnoxious jerk when they were kids and is an obnoxious jerk now, with the only difference that he is now one of the most highly regarded young paladins in the order. Or Ethin, who is the main source of petty rumors for miles around – he just won’t shut up about how strangely some of Audric’s assignments have failed, but really, what could you expect when his sister run off with elves, of all things? Him and Audric have almost come to blows in more than one occasion.